and we’re off!

It’s nice and rainy here, so I’ll be working more this evening, but here’s what I’ve got so far:

The red row has those holes at the bottom where the chain was stretched out, but I hope that will be minimized when I put a border on the blanket and even out the chain stitches a bit.

I’m off to hook some more!  I think I’ll take this to class tonight…

potholder madness!

Yes, I made another one!  Made with Caron Simply Soft (100% acrylic yarn), this will be just a decoration — I won’t actually use it because I don’t want to melt it.  This one’s a simple granny square backed with a square made of double crochet.

Sticking with my Cath Kidston-y colors!  I love it so much!

Sorry if you think potholders are boring, and are therefore tired of my multiple potholder posts.  I just think they’re so homey and quaint (in the best sense)!  I might make one more out of the same colors so that I have three that match and can hang them in a group.

double take

I liked the first potholder so much that I made another one today, with the exact same pattern, just different yarn.  This time I used Berocco Vintage Chunky, which is only 50% acrylic and therefore less likely to melt on my hand if in use.  I think the first one would be OK, but I don’t want to chance it.  So anyway, here is potholder #2:

I used the leftover yarn from my flower sunburst granny square blanket.  I think it turned out really nice, even though it’s very large.  This one is 11″ wide, while the first one was only 8.5″ wide:

Despite the large size,  I really like it.  I’m going to give this one away as a gift, actually, but I’ll keep the first one.

Thanks for stopping by today!

back to hooking

After all this knitting, I realized I was neglecting crochet horrendously.  I therefore looked up a new pattern that I hadn’t tried yet and made an ornamental potholder!

Ta-da!  I found this on Ravelry, which sent me to this original pattern from Crochet with Raymond.  I did a few things in the pattern my own way, like centering the granny increases in row 7 to be above the petals, but I really do like this pattern!  The center motif is called an African flower, and it’s becoming quite popular these days in all kinds of projects.  I had a bit of trouble in a couple of places, just being uncertain exactly what the pattern meant, but I think I succeeded.

The pattern calls for a back layer, which you can see through the granny gaps, and that really does make it suitable for picking up hot kitchen items.  I’m afraid I won’t be using mine for that, however, because I used Caron Simply Soft yarn and I’m scared that the acrylic would melt on my hand instantly on contact with a hot pan, or something like that.  Scary.  I think I’ll just hang it above my kitchen sink to add some cheer to my dismal 1970s typical apartment kitchen.

I might make more potholders soon to hang beside this one — I think they’re really charming, even though the idea of hanging potholders is very old-fashioned.  I remember my grandma had some hanging on her kitchen wall when I was little.  Although the idea is an old one, I think it can be done in a pretty, modern way.  That’s what I’m trying to do, anyway.  Let me know if I’m failing.  It just seems so cheery and homey, which I’ve been big into lately.  Well, I’m out for the night — it’s past 2 am here and time for bed!

celebrating heritage

I’ve got some Native American blood in me, so I decided to do a craft which celebrates that culture.  Presenting my first ever dreamcatcher!

Now there is crochet in this — the brown yarn is crocheted around a cheap bangle from Wal-Mart (the whole thing is about 3 1/4″ in diameter).

From what I know about dreamcatchers, they were originally about the same size as this one.  Traditionally there should be 8 points and you should hang personal/spiritual items from it (these beads come from some clothing I used to wear).  Dreamcatchers are, of course, supposed to filter out bad dreams when hung above your bed, letting only the good dreams pass through.  Now I’m not using the traditional leather strips and sinew, but honestly I have no idea where to get sinew and I figured it didn’t matter what the materials were, so long as most of the symbolism is still there.  Old fashioned ones actually become brittle and fall apart eventually due to their materials, which is supposed to symbolize growing out of childhood, but since I’m not a child anyway I figured I could improvise.  I’m excited to hang it up!